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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Pastor Mark Hooper and his wife Susan Hooper, entered pleas of no contest to charges that they deliberately underfed their adopted children.

An initial state police investigation showed that the couple allegedly underfed and withheld meals from their children, ages 9 to 11, as punishment. Police said they started looking into the couple after their youngest child ran away from home in February and told a neighbor about the lack of food and the punishments.

McKean County District Attorney Ray Learn said the plea deal spares the children from testifying at trial. Attorneys for the Hooper’s said the plea deal is the best outcome for the couple.

Mark Hooper was the pastor at Cobb Street Baptist Church Johnsonburg, Elk County.

In case you think that this case is an overreach, please consider that the daughter weighted all of 32 pounds at the time she was rescued from this nutballs. She was nine. Said claimed food was withheld whenever she did poorly in math.

One would think that school officials would have recognize the problem and report it, but the kids were homeschooled with no outside oversight. I have no problem with homeschooling children if the parents are qualified and if there is oversight. That’s not the case with these religious nutballs. They are free to do anything they wish and accountable to none.

Everything about this case is wrong. The Hoopers are horrible examples of humanity. I’m all for holding pastors to a higher level of scrutiny. if they fall like Hooper did, then public shaming and a long prison sentence is justified. The Hoopers must be held accountable. Letting them plead felonies down to misdomenors is the wrong approach. They should have stood trial and then they should have spent a few years in prison. All the prosecutor need do is show photos of the kids and the jury would put them away for 30 years.

Monday, December 30, 2013

So, let me preface this: I’m not completely sold on the “cult” title. This is probably because the word “cult” sparks instantaneous imagery of hooded figures in white robes with bleary drug eyes, and of 50-day standoffs in the desert heat. And I couldn’t possibly have attended a potluck with a cult leader and his followers, right? I keep denying it out of residual shock and disbelief, but the older I get, the more convinced I feel.

Let me back-track. Imagine a 17-year-old, comically cynical Gabi with frizzy, dyed red hair and a really tragic “thing” for dudes who played Pixies covers on their sick Fenders. Like, come on, Gabs. Have some self-worth! Don’t make out with a closeted Republican just because he can croon some dumb Jeff Buckley song, ya know?

I find these stories fascinating. I visited a cult compound as a teen and I’ve never forgotten the experience. It’s left a lingering taste for stories about other peoples’ experiences since mine was so odd.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Assistant pastor Malcolm Fraser violated a young girl in the most horrible way and was convicted for it. His sentence of 20 years in prison was harsh but well deserved. Now Frasher, 41, plans to appeal his conviction with the help of his church. He thinks that the jury should not have heard about his religion, which is odd since that was the whole reason he was in a position to molest his victim.

But it has now been revealed that Fraser is to appeal against his conviction, claiming there were errors in his trial and that his religious beliefs should not have been disclosed to the jury.

His trial head how Fraser assaulted the girl over a period of more than a year while he and his wife, Julie, were living with her family in Enumclaw, Washington State, eight years ago.

Fraser and his wife had been placed with the family by the Sound Doctrine Church on the orders of its leader, Timothy Williams, to put the girl through a manners “boot camp.”

The quote shows that Fraser was working in his role as a religious authority in a boot camp aimed at fixing a “disobedient" child. In his capacity as a pastor, he raped the girl. Now he objects to the jury hearing about his faith during the trial. I don’t get it, nor will the judges.

Reading further into the article we see that the church treated the rape allegations as an attack against the church. Why would they do that?

Church officials had condemned the allegations against Fraser throughout the court proceedings, claiming they amounted to a “hate crime against an entire church.”

Um… I smell a cult: I’m sure this has something to do with the appeal. Perhaps the jurors heard about how his odd beliefs and practices. The church involved is Sound Doctrine Church. If you visit their website you will see Legal Lynching, The Setup of Malcolm Fraser. Google the church and you will find a few folks complaining about what sounds like a cult. The deeper I dig, the weirder it gets.

Pastor Michael Bryant, arrested for the alleged molestation of his 16-year-old stepdaughter, will plead guilty to sexual battery by an authority figure. Bryant made the plea to get a shorter prison sentence. Part of the deal will include closing the Church of God in Christ in Memphis, which is no great loss.

The details of this case are disturbing. The victims mother is a deluded fool and should serve time in prison as well.

After Bryant's stepdaughter informed her mother that the pastor had been inappropriately touching her, instead of reporting the incident to police, her parents had prayed that God would drive the thoughts out of Bryant's mind. But after he touched her earlier this month, the teen reportedly informed her aunt, who told authorities.

At least the victim is staying with her aunt. Her mother’s parental rights should be suspended.

The church has all of 27 members, so I doubt there was much oversight. I’m sure the members will scramble to find another church. It’s not like there is a shortage of small churches run by lying pedophiles. It seems the lack of oversight extended to his family too. What a shame. Abuse like this is horrible and leaves wounds that do not heal.

I guess Bryant was not really a Christian (I am sure this will arrive in my inbox within a few days of posting this story). Here is how it works. If a pastor abuses a child, other Christians will rush to tell me that the pastor was not really a Christian, so the crime should not stain Christianity. This argument makes no sense, but when did logic ever factor into this argument?

Still others will insist that the abuse did not take place at the church, which I never understand. A church is a building and cannot be good or evil, nor is the the actions of it’s pedophile pastor a reflection on its people, unless the people are culpable in the abuse. Instead, the fact that the pastor is a hypocrite and that they sucked at his teat… that is the story. What does it mean if you base your faith of the words of your pastor only to find out he is molesting his stepdaughter. No amount of soap and hot water can remove that stain. Every word he spoke is corrupt. Every action you took on his advise must to be re-examplined. You were following the advice of a monster. You cannot simply pray that away.

This pick is way out of charter for me, but I've loved this tune since my first listen, which was in my truck with wife and son after a visit to The Farmers Market in Los Angeles back in summer. Electronica is not my genre. I really don’t like it, but I'm hooked on this song and on the whole album. What can I say… people change. what was your favorite new song this year? - Mojoey reflecting on the 2013

Monsignor William Lynn, convicted of child endangerment, was released from prison because of a ruling by an appeals court which dismissed the charge. Most reports I've read indicate that the ruling is based on a technicality.

But Bergstrom says the law states a parent, guardian or other person supervising the child must knowingly endanger that child.

“There must be some direct control over that child, and in this case there wasn’t. I mean Monsignor Lynn never knew this child,” he said.

In the court paperwork, judges explained that Monsignor Lynn did not have control over reassigning priests, and this played a factor in their decision.

Was Monsignor William Lynn a scapegoat? I think so. My reading of the law is constant will the Pa. Court of Appeals. It appears that the prosecution reached for a conviction using a law that did not cover the Lynn's actions. I think the right course of action here is to change the law. Lynn and the Catholic church should be held accountable for their inaction, they should also be given credit for making structural changes in how they operate, so perhaps the penalty here should be assessed in a civil trial.

Let’s remember what Monsignor William Lynn did. He reassigned sexual predators from one parish to the next which resulted in the abuse of children. He is culpable. If not in a criminal sense due to poorly written statutes, the in a civil sense. His action would never survive a jury and the payout would counted in the millions of dollars.

Former youth pastor David Webb, convicted in 2009 for transporting a 15-year-old girl across state lines for sex, was released from prison after serving his five year sentence.

Webb was arrested and pleaded guilty in 2009 to transporting a minor girl across state lines for sex. He served a five-year federal prison sentence and was released Dec. 23, according to the Bureau of Prisons database. Last year, a Jefferson County jury awarded a $1 million judgment against Webb because of his sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl in the congregation.

Webb was the youth pastor at Word of Life Christian Center. The church suffered after the conviction and was eventual renamed to The Life Church Birmingham.

David Webb has served his time and is a free man, but no church should hire convicted pedophile and registered sex offender to work as a pastor. If he still believes, there are plenty of other ways to serve. Contrition helps too. There was precious little of that in this case. Webb maintained his innocence until he admitted his guilt by taking a plea deal. At least he is a registered sex offender.

I remember this case for two reasons. First, David Webb worked as a youth pastor in his father’s church. This implies that there were inadequate controls in place at the church since no background check or oversight were in place at a family church. The reality was that David Webb was a princeling operating as an owner and was untouchable in his little domain. And second, his wife is what I call “Christian Crazy”, meaning that she forgave her husband when he confessed and then forgave the victim too. There was way too much forgiveness and too little accountability. If there had been accountability, there would have been less abuse.

Walsh told MPR News on Wednesday that he never sexually abused children. "I'd have been shocked if I was on the list because there's nothing credible about it," he said. "If I were hiding that, you wouldn't be in my house right now; I would have been very careful."

Walsh said he left the priesthood voluntarily because he has a heart condition. "I gave almost 50 years of service," he said. "I felt that was a generous offering."

If Walsh did not abuse a child, then why did the church pay out a settlement on his behalf and seek his removal from the priesthood?

Nienstedt told the Vatican: "Father Walsh's scandalous living arrangements and his endorsement of 'optional celibacy' for clergy have continued unchecked for too long. Furthermore, the allegations regarding possible sexual abuse of minors necessitate that Father Walsh no longer hold a place of prestige and authority in any parish in the Archdiocese."

Nienstedt... that would be Archbishop John Nienstedt. He needs to find another job or go to prison with the other child-molesting priests because he's been accused too. In fact, the whole Archdiocese needs a do over.

Seven of the priests named were not previously known to the public as accused abusers. Five of those seven are still living. About one-third of the priests on the list are dead.

The accused priests have served at nearly half — 92, in total — of the 188 parishes in the archdiocese, according to an email sent to priests by vicar general Rev. Charles Lachowitzer, the archbishop's top deputy.

If you are a Catholic in Minnesota, it might be time to change churches.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

A Christian activist group placed a banner over an atheist display at Chicago’s Daley Plaza proclaiming that “A is for Angels.”

The banner covers a sign set up earlier this month by the Freedom From Religion Foundation that explained that an 8.5-foot lighted “A” stood for “atheists” as part of a protest of Christmas-themed items on the public square.

Christians think the “A" in Atheist is hate speech. What the hell? I’ve had Christian friends tell me that even saying that I am an atheist is offensive and disrespectful. To this I say, Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!

They want us to be more tolerant of Christian values? Us? Wow. This blows my mind.

Before Phil Robertson spoke his hate, I did not know who he was. I have never watched Duck Dynasty or bought a single product associated with the show. When friends suggested I watch the show, I politely rebuffed them. Now I know that I will never watch the show and will not buy the show’s branded products. Scripted reality does not hold my interest. Life is so short. Why waste time on something as banal as rednecked humor and reprobate Christianity? Life is too short.

We fight back against Phil Robertson's stupidity by not paying attention to him. We do not watch his show. We do not buy his products. We vote with our eyes and our wallets. When Phil opens his mouth, we fight back with better ideas. It's not hard.

I am proud of my fellow atheist bloggers. What I’ve read in the last week inspires me and I think our reasoned and nuanced positions are influencing thought and action across the country. I am answering the call to action in my own way. Here is what I plan to do.

Of course, I will continue to write about the situation as the story develops.

I am most disappointed in my Christian friends and not for what they’ve said, but for what they have not said. The silence is a tacit endorsement for the hate espoused by Robertson. It is time to take a stand. Speak out.

What Pope Francis is doing warms my cold heart. He's making small adjustments which nudge the Catholic Church in the right direction. His lasted move, ousting Cardinal Donald Wuerl from the Congregation for Bishops, moves away from conservatism towards... something less conservative. Every move in the right direction should be celebrated. Every move in the wrong direction should be criticized (I do that too). A few of my peers choose to criticize every move because they see the church as the enemy. I see the church as my enemy too, but even my enemy can do something right.

Small change is the right approach. Constant change is even better. I think Pope Francis is making a good go at reform, but I'm keeping my eye on the church. I know better then to let my guard down.

I’ve had a copy of Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, on my bookshelf since 1980. I know I read it. I could swear I read it. Yet, as I listed to it on Audible these past few days, I did not recognize a single line of the story. Nothing! I had a narrative in my head that did not match the book. How does that happen? I’ve referenced it dozens of times in conversation over the years. Heck, I even remember meeting Larry Niven back in the day. It's all gone. I remember nothing. The book is good though. I throughly enjoyed it. It's a great post apocalyptic read.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Pastor Jacob Kindren of One Accord Ministries in Minnesota, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after allegations that he raped two young girls. The rapes allegedly occurred when the girls were as young as six.

The girls, ages 14 and 16, both said the abuse started years earlier and included fondling, oral sex and penetration by Kindred.

When a nurse interviewed them at the Midwest Children's Resource Center, the younger girl said the abuse included molestation and penetration. It happened at a home where Kindred had lived in St. Paul, in a Target parking lot in St. Paul and at Kindred's Maplewood home, she said.

Kindred used to tell the girls that the “devil was inside them” before allegedly raping them.

Kindren sounds like a jerk too. He runs a one-man ministry, which is always a problem in these cases because of a lack of oversight, plus he acts like he being persecuted.

When police interviewed Kindred in August he told them that he was a pastor with One Accord Ministries. Kindred denied the allegations.

“He then terminated the interview and stated, ‘And I’m gone,’ ” the complaint said. “He stated, ‘Get your warrants, do what you gotta do, no DNA, none of that.’ He then left the interview stating, ‘You weren’t there, nobody was there!’ ”

Brian Schwanke, Tea Party Patriot and devout Christian, was arrested for receiving and distributing child pornography. Schwanke makes the list because of his religiosity and because he liked to pretend that he was a pastor.

The 46-year-old Michigan resident was named today in a federal criminal complaint charging him with distributing and receiving child pornography. Schwanke, pictured above, allegedly used the e-mail account hornypastor@outlook.com to trade hundreds of revolting photos and videos.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I find it hard to explain how it feels to work hard all day but not be creative. I'm in the middle of an audit right now and feeling the exact opposite of creative. So, to help my mindset, I'm publishing a photo just because I can.

Plus... I want to figure out how to use Blogsy on my iPad. I had forgotten.

Sunday, December 08, 2013

Youth pastor Jonathan David Masteller, formerly of Gap Community Church, was arrested for the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy. Masteller was a youth pastor, classroom assistant and basketball coach.

On Nov. 29, a church employee discovered images on a computer that the former employee used, allegedly showing Masteller and the teen engaging in sex acts, and reported them to the police.

In a Gap Community Church statement released to Fox43, the church staff said they were "shocked and saddened to learn of the charges filed against Jonathan Masteller," and reiterated that he no longer works at the church.

East Anchorage pastor Ronald Paul Rathburn Sr., was arrested for the possession and distribution of child pornography. Rathburn is a pastor at Eternal Love Ministry.

The Alaska State Troopers' High Tech Crimes Unit, which is a part of the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children task force, tracked images of child pornography to Anchorage and then turned the case over to local police, Estes said.

After investigating, Anchorage police allegedly found the illegal images coming from Rathbun's home on Island Drive, Estes said. A search warrant was issued and Rathbun was taken into custody and charged.

Rathburn has traveled extensively, which included missionary trips to the Philippines and other poor countries. I’m learning that trips to the Philippines for pedophiles is like a visit to Candy Land for a diabetic and should be a red flag for churches. Why do Christians send missionaries to a country that is 82.9% Catholic and 99% religious? I’m betting it’s to poach converts.

Human trafficking in the Philippines is so bad that is it is considered a crime against humanity. Pastor Ron has visited the Philippines nine times. He’s feeding children. When you do the math, the “ministry” sounds more like an opportunity.

Christians send missionaries to the Philippines because it is a safe place to operate and the food-for-faith deal they offer is attractive to the poor and starving. Let’s see Eternal Love Ministry operate in Timor-Leste, Malawi, Somolia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s easy to jump on a jet and land in one to the fastest growing economies in Asia. It’s easy to operate in a country that is friendly. One where Americans are welcome. Yet we send pastors to sow evil. It is cowardice and not our finest hour.

Should atheists work toward the total eradication of religious belief, or is it sufficient to stop those who would impose their religiously-based morality on the rest of us? Some anti-theistic atheists argue that we should stop at nothing short of ending religion and that it is a mistake to seek religious allies who may share our goal of secularism; other atheists believe that secularism should be our primary goal and are perfectly content to work alongside religious secularists when it may be beneficial to do so.

Part one:Should atheist work toward the total eradication of religious belief. To put it simply, my answer is no. The goal is unattainable, which makes it a fool’s quest, and I am no fool. Plus, what people believe is not the issue. How they act on those beliefs is the issue. I know plenty of good people who happen to be Christians and I know plenty of people who use religion as justification for horrible actions. We must fight those who act against us and whose ideas are in conflict with our rights. We must offer an alternative to religious morality that can compete for the hearts and minds of the public and we must offer ideas that can win. We must offer a viable alternative to religion and not crush religious belief. By offering an alternative, we dilute religion’s influence and we win. Life is about choices. Let’s offer good alternatives.

Part two:Is it sufficient to stop those who would impose their religiously-based morality on the rest of us? Yes. We must fight every instance of injustice. We must fight any attempt to legislate morality. We must carry to fight to the public via blogs, demonstrations, books, podcasts, lectures and any vector that works… even through simple conversations at the company water cooler. Our mission should be intelligent opposition to Iron Age ideas.

Part three:Do we work alongside religious secularists or exclude them? Yes! We should work with those who share our values and those who could share our value, but more importantly, liberal Christians are a huge untapped resource. If we work with those Christians who oppose the oppressive morality of the conservative movement, we win. A few years ago I worked with a local pastor on his position towards marriage equity. He eventually abandoned his opposition to the issue and started preaching a message of support to his large flock. This is a win. It took a few beers and a lot my time, but the pastor and his church are now aligned behind a secular moral position. They continue to win others over to the cause. People who I would never be able to reach because I do not speak the language of the believer. If I had focused on the irrationality of his belief in God, our conversation would have lasted five minutes. I focus on moral issues and not on what diety people believein. It is more productive.

A message to Jack Vance - I’ll think about the list of questions. I’m hope to be able to contribute soon.

Saturday, December 07, 2013

A fifth grade school teacher has been suspended by Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. Her crime? She was the victim of a crime. Her iPhone was stolen. It contained nude or seminude photos. These photos were published to a revenge porn website and... well she's been suspended.

"To confirm, we do have an employee who appears in some photos that have been compromised and made digitally available. This employee has been put on Administrative Leave while the matter is being investigated. While this investigation happens, it is our goal to have minimal disruption here at the school. Parents, Faculty and Staff have all been notified. Due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, and out of respect for this person's family, no additional details are available at this time."

My instincts are to protect the victims of a crime. It's the right thing to do. When you punish a victim instead of offering support, often in the name of some subjective moral standard, you punish the innocent. Is that right? I don’t think so. Parents be damned. Let’s what is right for the victim.

***Update 2/2/2014A retraction of sorts: The victim, Jamie Climie, lied about the reason she took the selfie and the theft of her cell phone. She was having an affair with a married man and her phone was not stolen, she sent the photo herself. Related post: Damn Liars! Christians drive me nuts!

Egyptian Poet Ahmed Fouad Negm “el-Fagommi” has died (Obit) in Egypt at age 84. Negm was the “poet of the people” in Egypt. I found his work through an Egyptian friend just a few short years ago. I have a PDF copy of a few of his translated works. I’ve copied out an example below. He is amazing translated into English, but I wish I could read his works in Arabic.

(Uyun il-kalam)

A Poem, a Manifesto

If the sun were to drownIn the sea of sad cloudsIf the earth were engulfedby a wave of dark shroudsAnd sight died awayFrom all eyes and all mindsAnd the pathway went missingAmidst circles and linesYou might get around(You think you’re so wise!)Yet you haven’t a guideBut the words’ very eyes

Sunday, December 01, 2013

They lied as bad as any thug or ex-con I've ever come across - Det. Gary Lyon

Rodger Mahony, the former Cardinal of the archdiocese of Los Angeles, now lives in the rectory of a parish in North Hollywood. He should be in prison. Mahony systematically designed victims of clergy sex abuse justice by deliberately hindering police investigations. He also protected priests that he knew were continuing to abuse children. Why? Because he was meant for bigger things. Because he was meant for an important biography. Because he was destined for greatness.

That a priest could molest a child would no longer have surprised Mahony. Less than a month after he started work in L.A., the first letter regarding an abuser priest landed on his desk. Two days later, he was dealing with the case of a second molester priest.

Baker was the ninth.

For decades, such allegations had made their way to the archdiocese's headquarters. But for the most part, the men who wore the miter before Mahony did little in response. Letters from irate parents gathered dust in file cabinets. Priests were quietly transferred.

Mahony knew the larger church was just starting to confront clergy abuse. In 1985, after a molester priest caused a scandal in Louisiana, U.S. bishops held a closed-door session on abuse at their annual conference.